View source for Geographical distribution of German speakers

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Redirect|DACH|other uses|Dach (disambiguation)}}

This article details the '''geographical distribution of speakers of the German language''', regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken. In addition to the [[Germanosphere]] ({{langx|de|Deutscher [[Sprachraum]]}}) in [[Europe]], German-speaking [[minority language|minorities]] are present in many other countries and on all six inhabited [[continent]]s.

Mostly depending on the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties with a disputed status as separate languages or which were later acknowledged as separate languages (e.g., [[Low German|Low German/Plautdietsch]]<ref name="Goossens2000">[[Jan Goossens (linguist)|Jan Goossens]]: ''{{lang|de|Niederdeutsche Sprache: Versuch einer Definition.}}'' In: Jan Goossens (Hrsg.): ''{{lang|de|Niederdeutsch: Sprache und Literatur.}}'' Karl Wachholtz, 2. Auflage, Neumünster 1983, S. 27; Willy Sanders: ''{{lang|de|Sachsensprache, Hansesprache, Plattdeutsch: sprachgeschichtliche Grundzüge des Niederdeutschen.}}'' Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1982, {{ISBN|3-525-01213-6}}, S. 32 f.; Dieter Stellmacher: ''{{lang|de|Niederdeutsche Sprache.}}'' 2. Auflage, Weidler, Berlin 2000, {{ISBN|3-89693-326-4}}, p. 92.</ref>), it is estimated that approximately 90–95&nbsp;million people speak German as a [[first language]],<ref name="Ammon, 2014"/><ref name="Ethnologue (2015)">Sum of Standard German, Swiss German, and all German dialects not listed under "Standard German" at [[Ethnologue]] (18th ed., 2015)</ref><ref name="Marten">{{cite book |editor1-first=Thomas |editor1-last=Marten |editor2-first=Fritz Joachim|editor2-last= Sauer |title=Länderkunde&nbsp;– Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz und Liechtenstein im Querschnitt |trans-title=Regional Geography&nbsp;– An Overview of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein |year=2005 |publisher=Inform-Verlag |location=Berlin |language=de |isbn=3-9805843-1-3 |page=7 }}</ref> 10–25 million as a [[second language]],<ref name="Ammon, 2014"/><ref name="Ethnologue (2015)"/> and 75–100 million as a [[foreign language]].<ref name="Ammon, 2014"/><ref name="eurobarometer">{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |title=Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and their languages |type=report |date=June 2012 |publisher=European Commission |access-date=2015-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106183351/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |archive-date=2016-01-06 }}</ref> This would imply approximately 175–220&nbsp;million German speakers worldwide.<ref name=Statista>{{cite web |url=http://www.statista.com/statistics/266808/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide/ |title=The most spoken languages worldwide (speakers and native speaker in millions) |publisher=Statista, The Statistics Portal |location=New York |quote=Native speakers=105, total speakers=185 |access-date=2015-07-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628162716/http://www.statista.com/statistics/266808/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide/ |archive-date=2015-06-28 }}</ref>

==Europe==
===German-speaking Europe===
{{Pie chart
|caption=Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide:<ref name="Eurobarometer">[http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_anx_en.pdf Eurobarometer 2012 – Annex]</ref><ref name="Ethnologue">{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/language/deu|title=German, Standard|work=Ethnologue}}</ref><ref name="Ammon, 2014"/><ref group="note">See also: [[List of countries and territories where German is an official language]]</ref>
|value1=78.3
|label1=[[Germany]]
|color1=Black
|value2=8.4
|label2=[[Austria]]
|color2=Maroon
|value3=5.6
|label3=[[Switzerland]]
|color3=Red
|value4=0.4
|label4=[[South Tyrol]]
|color4=Blue
|value5=7.3
|label5=Others (non-German speaking countries in Europe and non-European countries)
|color5=Green
}}

The German language is spoken in a number of countries and territories in [[Europe]], where it is used both as an official language and as a minority language in various countries. To cover this language area, they are often referred to as the German-speaking countries, the German-speaking area ({{lang|de|Deutscher [[Sprachraum]]}}), or equivalently German-speaking Europe (non-European German-speaking communities are not commonly included in the concept).

German is the main language of approximately 95 to 100 million people in Europe, or 13.3% of all Europeans. This makes it the second most spoken native language in Europe, behind only [[Russian language|Russian]] (with 144 million speakers), and ahead of [[French language|French]] (with 66.5 million) and [[English language|English]] (with 64.2 million).

The European countries with German-speaking majorities are [[Languages of Germany|Germany]] (95%, 78.3 million), [[Languages of Austria|Austria]] (89%, 8.9 million), and [[Linguistic geography of Switzerland|Switzerland]] (65%, 4.6 million), also known as the "D-A-CH" countries, an acronym for ''Deutschland'' (Germany), Austria, and ''Confoederatio Helvetica'' (the [[Swiss Confederation]]). 

Since 2004, there has been an annual informal [[meeting of the heads of state of German-speaking countries]] including the Presidents of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/EN/Joachim-Gauck/2012/06/120611-Switzerland.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905143417/http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/EN/Joachim-Gauck/2012/06/120611-Switzerland.html|title=www.bundespraesident.de: Der Bundespräsident / Articles / Meeting of German-speaking heads of state|archive-date=September 5, 2017|website=www.bundespraesident.de}}</ref> Since 2014, the King of [[Belgium]] and the Grand Duke of [[Luxembourg]] have taken part.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/DE/Joachim-Gauck/2015/09/150916-Liechtenstein-Staatsoberhaeupter.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101030015/http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Berichte/DE/Joachim-Gauck/2015/09/150916-Liechtenstein-Staatsoberhaeupter.html|title=www.bundespraesident.de: Der Bundespräsident / Reisen und Termine / Treffen deutschsprachiger Staatsoberhäupter|archive-date=January 1, 2018|website=www.bundespraesident.de}}</ref>

D-A-CH or [[:wikt:DACH|DACH]] is an [[acronym]] used to represent the dominant states of the [[German language]] ''[[Sprachraum]]''. It is based on the [[List of international vehicle registration codes|international vehicle registration codes]] for:

* [[Germany]] ('''D''' for {{Lang|de|Deutschland}})
* [[Austria]] ('''A''' for ''Austria'', in [[German language|German]] "{{Lang|de|Österreich|italic=unset}}")
* [[Switzerland]] ('''CH''' for {{Lang|la|Confoederatio Helvetica}}, in [[German language|German]] "{{Lang|de|(die) Schweiz|italic=unset}}")

"Dach" is also the German word for "roof", and is used in linguistics in the term [[Dachsprache]], which standard German arguably is in relation to some outlying dialects of German, especially in Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, and Austria.

The term is sometimes extended to D-A-CH-Li, DACHL, or DACH+ to include [[Liechtenstein]]. Another version is DACHS (with ''Dachs'' meaning "[[Badger]]" in German) with the inclusion of the German-speaking region of [[South Tyrol]] in [[Italy]].<ref>Example: [http://www.claudiana.bz.it/de/projekte/esf_projekt_ergotherapie_2010_dachs_projekt_.html DACHS-Projekt "Ergotherapie 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722025418/http://www.claudiana.bz.it/de/projekte/esf_projekt_ergotherapie_2010_dachs_projekt_.html |date=2011-07-22 }}</ref>

DACH is also the name of an [[Interreg]] IIIA project, which focuses on crossborder cooperation in planning.<ref>{{cite web|title=DACH+ Raumentwicklung im Grenzraum von Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz und Liechtenstein|language=de|publisher=DACH|url=http://www.d-a-ch.org/|access-date=2008-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321024810/http://www.d-a-ch.org/|archive-date=2008-03-21}}</ref>

===Rest of Europe===
In the [[early modern period]], German varieties were a ''[[lingua franca]]'' of Central, Eastern, and [[Northern Europe]] ([[Hanseatic League]]).<ref name=Polenz1999>{{cite book|last1=von Polenz|first1=Peter|title=Deutsche Sprachgeschichte vom Spätmittelalter bis zur Gegenwart|volume=Band III: 19. und 20. Jahrhundert|series=de Gruyter Studienbuch|date=1999|publisher=de Gruyter|location=Berlin; New York|isbn=3-11-016426-4|pages=192–194, 196|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1KF3f-aGR4C&q=deutsch+verkehrssprache+nordeuropa&pg=PA193|access-date=21 August 2014|language=de|chapter=6.5. Inter- und übernationale Beziehungen}}</ref>

German is a recognised minority language in [[Czech Republic|Czechia]], [[Hungary]], [[Italy]] ([[Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol]]),<ref>{{cite book|author= Georg Grote, Hannes Obermair|title=A Land on the Threshold. South Tyrolean Transformations, 1915–2015|year=2017|publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]]|location=Oxford, Bern, New York|isbn=978-3-0343-2240-9}}</ref> [[Poland]], [[Romania]], [[Russia]], and [[Slovakia]].

Today German, together with [[French language|French]], is a common second foreign language in the western world, with [[English language|English]] well established as a first foreign language.<ref name="eurobarometer"/><ref name="goethe-institut"/> German ranks second (after English) among the best known foreign languages in the EU (on a par with French)<ref name="eurobarometer"/> as well as in [[Russia]].<ref name="Levada2008">{{cite web |script-title=ru:Знание иностранных языков в России |trans-title=Knowledge of foreign languages in Russia |language=ru |url=http://www.levada.ru/16-09-2008/znanie-inostrannykh-yazykov-v-rossii |publisher=[[Levada Center]]|access-date=10 May 2015 |date=16 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510133101/http://www.levada.ru/16-09-2008/znanie-inostrannykh-yazykov-v-rossii |archive-date=10 May 2015 }}</ref> In terms of student numbers across all levels of education, German ranks third in the EU (after English and French)<ref name=eurostat>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Foreign_language_learning_statistics|title=Foreign language learning statistics – Statistics Explained|website=ec.europa.eu|access-date=4 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628100813/http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Foreign_language_learning_statistics|archive-date=28 June 2017}}</ref> as well as in the United States (after Spanish and French).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/ReportSummary2011.pdf |title=Foreign Language Enrollments in K–12 Public Schools |date=February 2011 |publisher=American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) |access-date=October 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408184754/http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/ReportSummary2011.pdf |archive-date=April 8, 2016 }}</ref><ref name=MLA>[[Modern Language Association]], February 2015, [http://www.mla.org/pdf/2013_enrollment_survey.pdf Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2013] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404015237/http://www.mla.org/pdf/2013_enrollment_survey.pdf |date=2015-04-04 }}. Retrieved 2015-07-07.</ref> In 2015, approximately 15.4 million people were in the process of learning German across all levels of education worldwide.<ref name="goethe-institut">{{cite web|url=https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf37/Bro_Deutschlernerhebung_final3.pdf|title=Deutsch als Fremdsprache weltweit. Datenerhebung 2015 – Worldwide survey of people learning German; conducted by the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Goethe Institute|access-date=4 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525142613/https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf37/Bro_Deutschlernerhebung_final3.pdf|archive-date=25 May 2017}}</ref> This number has remained relatively stable since 2005 (± 1 million) and roughly 75–100 million people able to communicate in German as a foreign language can be inferred, assuming an average course duration of three years and other estimated parameters.<ref name="Ammon, 2014">[http://www.ulrichammon.de/resources/Stellung_der_deutschen_Sprache.pdf Ammon, Ulrich – Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109200453/http://www.ulrichammon.de/resources/Stellung_der_deutschen_Sprache.pdf |date=2015-11-09 }} (de Gruyter Mouton; {{ISBN|978-3-11-019298-8}})</ref> According to a 2012 survey, ca. 47 million people within the EU (i.e., up to two thirds of the 75–100 million worldwide) claimed to have sufficient German skills to have a conversation. Within the EU, and not counting countries where it is a (co-)official language, German as a foreign language is most widely taught in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Northern Europe]], namely [[Croatia]], the [[Czech Republic]], [[Denmark]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Poland]], [[Slovakia]], [[Slovenia]], and [[Sweden]].<ref name=eurobarometer/><ref name=eurostat/>

German as a foreign language is promoted by the [[Goethe Institute]], which works to promote German language and culture worldwide.<ref name="goethe-institut"/> In association with the Goethe Institute, the German foreign broadcasting service, [[Deutsche Welle]], offers a range of online German courses<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,2547,00.html|title=German Courses – DW|website=DW.COM|access-date=4 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117071036/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,2547,00.html|archive-date=17 January 2012}}</ref> and worldwide television as well as radio broadcasts produced with non-native German speakers in mind.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.com/|title=TOP STORIES – DW|website=DW.COM|access-date=4 July 2017}}</ref>
<gallery class="center">
File:Knowledge of German EU map (2010).svg|Self-reported [[Languages of the European Union#Language skills of European citizens|German language skills of European Union citizens (2010)]]
File:German foreign language EU.jpg|Bar chart – knowledge of German as a [[foreign language]] in the EU (+[[United Kingdom|UK]] and [[Turkey]])
</gallery>

==Africa==
===Namibia===
{{Main|German language in Namibia}}

[[Image:NamibiaDeutscheSprache.jpg|thumb|Examples of German language in Namibia's everyday life]]

Namibia was [[German South-West Africa|a colony]] of the [[German Empire]] from 1884 to 1915. Mostly originating from Germans who settled there during this time, 25,000 to 30,000 people still speak German as a native tongue today.<ref name="Deutsch in Namibia">{{cite web|url=http://www.az.com.na/fileadmin/pdf/2007/deutsch_in_namibia_2007_07_18.pdf|title=Deutsch in Namibia|publisher=Supplement of the Allgemeine Zeitung|date=18 August 2007|access-date=23 June 2008|language=de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624233949/http://www.az.com.na/fileadmin/pdf/2007/deutsch_in_namibia_2007_07_18.pdf|archive-date=24 June 2008}}</ref> German, along with English and [[Afrikaans]] used to be a co-official language of Namibia from 1984 until its independence from [[South Africa]] in 1990. At this point, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols for [[Apartheid]] and colonialism, and decided for English to be the sole official language, claiming that it was a "neutral" language as virtually no English native speakers existed in Namibia at that time.<ref name="Deutsch in Namibia"/> German, Afrikaans and several indigenous languages became "national languages" by law, identifying them as cultural heritages of the nation and ensuring the state to acknowledge and support their presence in the country.<ref name="Ammon, 2014"/> Today, German is used in myriad spheres, especially business and tourism, as well as churches (most notably the German-speaking [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK)]]), schools (e.g., the [[Deutsche Höhere Privatschule Windhoek]]), literature (German-Namibian authors include {{ill|Giselher W. Hoffmann|de}}), radio (the [[Namibian Broadcasting Corporation]] produces radio programs in German), and music (e.g., artist [[EES (rapper)|EES]]). The ''[[Allgemeine Zeitung (Namibia)|Allgemeine Zeitung]]'' is also one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa.<ref name="Deutsch in Namibia"/>

===South Africa===
Mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries, an estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in [[South Africa]].<ref name="ReferenceA">[[Template:German L1 speakers outside Europe|German L1 speakers outside Europe]]</ref> Germans settled quite extensively in South Africa, with many [[Calvinist]]s immigrating from Northern Europe. Later on, more Germans settled in the [[KwaZulu-Natal]] region and elsewhere. Here, one of the largest communities are the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of [[Low German]], who are concentrated in and around [[Wartburg, KwaZulu-Natal|Wartburg]] and to a lesser extent around [[Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal|Winterton]]. German is slowly disappearing elsewhere, but a number of communities still have a large number of speakers and some even have German language schools, such as the [[Deutsche Schule Hermannsburg|Hermannsburg German School]]. Furthermore, German was often a language taught as a foreign language in White South African schools during the Apartheid years (1948–1994). Today, the South African constitution identifies German as a "commonly used" language and the [[Pan South African Language Board]] is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-1-founding-provisions#5|title=Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 – Chapter 1: Founding Provisions – South African Government|website=www.gov.za|access-date=4 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028043044/http://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-1-founding-provisions#5|archive-date=28 October 2014}}</ref>

== Americas ==
=== Latin America ===
[[File:Ichblumenau.jpg|right|thumb|"{{Lang|de|Ich liebe Blumenau}}" in front of [[Blumenau]] city hall, in [[Santa Catarina (state)|Santa Catarina]], [[Brazil]]]]

Nowadays, at least one million German speakers live in [[Latin America]].{{cn|date=December 2022}} There are German-speaking minorities in almost every Latin American country, including [[Argentina]], [[Belize]], [[Bolivia]], [[Brazil]], [[Chile]], [[Colombia]], [[Costa Rica]], the [[Dominican Republic]], [[Ecuador]], [[Guatemala]], [[Mexico]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Paraguay]], [[Peru]], [[Uruguay]], and [[Venezuela]]. 

Initially, in the eighteenth century, only isolated or small groups of German emigrants left for Latin America; however, at the start of the nineteenth, this pattern was reversed as a tidal wave of German emigration totaling some 200,000 people began.{{cn|date=December 2022}} These included groups such as land-hungry peasants, political refugees known as [[Forty-Eighters]], and religious minorities such as [[Russian Mennonites]] fleeing religious persecution at home. During the 1880s, during the wave of mass emigration, this figure was reached annually. 

The ''Handbuch des Deutschtums im Ausland'' (''The Germans Abroad Handbook'') from 1906 puts a figure of 11&nbsp;million people in North and South America with a knowledge of the German language, of which 9 million were in the US. Although the US was the focal point for emigration in the 19th century, emigration to Latin America was also significant for differing economic and political reasons.{{cn|date=December 2022}}

The majority of German emigrants to Latin America went especially to Brazil, but also to Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. The three countries with the biggest ethnic German populations in Latin America to this day are Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico.<ref name="Schoonover">{{cite book |title=Hitler's Man in Havana: Heinz Luning and Nazi Espionage in Latin America |date=2008 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=United States of America |isbn=978-0-8131-2501-5 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CojTWMNxso4C&pg=PA35 |access-date=27 May 2014}}</ref>

Starting in 1818, when King D. João VI brought the first German and Swiss immigrants to Brazil, German immigration continued a constant flow with an average of 25 to 30 thousand immigrants per decade entering the country since 1818. It peaked in the years following World War I, to around 90 thousand, and again in the 1940s to around 50,000. In the 1880s and 1890s, German emigration to Latin America grew and in some years was the destination of up to 30% of German emigrants. 

During the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi period]] which lasted from 1933 to 1945, some 100,000 [[Jews]] from Central Europe, the vast majority of which were German-speaking, moved to South America, with 90% of these moving to the Cono Sur or Southern Cone. This ended when the ban on emigration came into effect in 1941, which was roughly also the beginning of the [[holocaust]]. From the start of the 20th century until 1946, 80% of [[Judaism in Europe|Jews lived in Europe]]; but by the end of [[World War II]] this was reduced to 25%. However, after the war over 50% of Jews lived in [[the Americas]]. This change was aided by [[Jewish emigration]] groups such as the [[Hilfsverein deutschsprechender Juden]] (later to become [[Asociación Filantrópica Israelita]]) which was based in [[Buenos Aires]], [[Argentina]]. 

The majority of [[German minority|German minorities]] in [[Latin America]] – as well as elsewhere around the world – experienced a decline in the use of the German language, with the exception of Brazil, where the dialect Riograndenser Hunsrückisch is being taught in schools and in some media, totaling over 200 thousand speakers spread over the Brazilian southern states.
The main cause of this decrease is the integration of communities, often originally sheltered, into the dominant society, and as well as the invariable pull of societal assimilation which confronts all immigrant groups. 

German migration to colonial Mexico is less accounted for due to the geopolitical isolation following independence from Spain, as well as the deterrents of Mexico's ensuing civil wars. Despite these obstacles and lack of documentation, however, over 200,000 Prussian/German nationals have been registered entering the country between 1860 and 1960. 

The first wave of Germans immigrated from northern Prussia under the reign of Princess Carlota during the 2nd French Mexican empire. Of special interest is the settlement [[Villa Carlota, Mexico|Villa Carlota]]: that was the name under which two German farming settlements, in the villages of [[Santa Elena, Yucatán|Santa Elena]] and Pustunich in Yucatán, were founded during the [[Second Mexican Empire]] (1864–1867).<ref>Alma Durán-Merk (2007). Identifying Villa Carlota: German Settlements in Yucatán, México, During the Second Empire. Augsburg: Universität Augsburg.</ref> Villa Carlota attracted a total of 443 German-speaking immigrant families, most of them were farmers and artisans who emigrated with their families: the majority came from [[Prussia]] and many among them were Protestants.<ref>Alma Durán-Merk (2008a). Nur deutsche Elite für Yukatan? Neue Ergebnisse zur Migrationsforschung während des Zweiten mexikanischen Kaiserreiches. Only "Selected" German Immigrants in Yucatán? Recent Findings about the Colonization Policy of the Second Mexican Empire. In: OPUS Augsburg, <http://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/volltexte/2008/1320/pdf/Duran_Merk_Selected_German_Migration.pdf.</ref> 

The second wave was during Porfirio Díaz's open settlement policy in the Yucatán Peninsula that favored and attracted many Europeans. Most German-speaking or self identifying German-Mexicans today are descended from these two events as well as around 20,000 ethnic Germans from Russia and around 100,000 Mennonites from Canada.

Specific reasons for language change from German to the national language usually derive from the desire of many Germans to belong to their new communities after the end of World War II. This is a common feature among the German minorities in Latin America and those in [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]]: the majority of countries where German minorities lived had fought against the Germans during the war. With this change in situation, the members of the German minorities, previously communities of status and prestige, were turned into undesirable minorities (though there were widespread elements of sympathy for Germany in many South American countries as well).

For many German minorities, World War II thus represented the breaking point in the development of their language. In some South American countries the war period and immediately afterwards was a time of massive [[cultural assimilation|assimilation]] to the local culture (for example during the [[Getúlio Vargas]] period in [[Brazil]]).

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Paraguay show some clear demographic differences that affect the minority situation of the German language: Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina are massive countries and offer large amounts of land for immigrants to settle. The population density of the [[Southern Cone]] countries is relatively low (Brazil has 17 inhabitants/km<sup>2</sup>, Chile has 15/km<sup>2</sup>, Argentina and Paraguay both have 10/km<sup>2</sup>, data from 1993), but there are major differences in the areas settled by Germans: [[Buenos Aires Province]], which was settled by [[Germans]], has a far higher population density than that of the [[Chaco Department|Chaco]] in northern Paraguay (with 1 inhabitant/km<sup>2</sup>). 

While Argentina and Chile have a far greater proportion of city dwellers (86% and 84% respectively); in contrast, Brazil and Paraguay are 82% and 47% [[Urbanization|urbanized]], respectively. Most of the German immigrants that arrived in Brazil and Mexico went on to live in small inland communities. The original 58 German communities of the early 19th century Brazil, grew today to over 250 towns where Germans are a majority, and German-speaking is encouraged.

==== Argentina ====
{{Further|Argentinien-schwyzertütsch dialect|German Argentine|Mennonites in Argentina}}

There are about 500,000 German speakers and around 320,000 Volga-Germans alone, of which 200,000 hold German citizenship. This makes Argentina one of the countries with the largest number of German speakers and is second only in Latin America to Brazil. In the 1930s there were about 700,000 people of German descent.<ref name="tau">{{cite web|url=http://www.tau.ac.il/eial/VI_2/gaudig_veit.htm|title=Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe|website=www.tau.ac.il|access-date=4 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613124722/http://www.tau.ac.il/eial/VI_2/gaudig_veit.htm|archive-date=13 June 2013}}</ref>
Regional concentrations can be found in the provinces of [[Entre Ríos Province|Entre Ríos]] and [[Buenos Aires]] (with around 500,000 to 600,000) as well as [[Misiones Province|Misiones]] and in the general area of the Chaco and the [[Pampas]].

However, most German-descended Argentinians do not speak German with native fluency (that role has been taken by Spanish). The 300,000 German speakers are estimated to be immigrants and not actually born in Argentina, and because of this they still speak their home language while their descendants who were born in Argentina speak primarily Spanish.{{cn|date=December 2022}}

==== Brazil ====
{{Main|Brazilian German}}

[[File:Escolabilingue.jpg|right|thumb|Bilingual school sign in [[Pomerode]]]]

According to [[Deutsche Welle]], there are some twelve million people of German ancestry in Brazil. Nevertheless, the number of people speaking any sort of German (Standard German, [[Hunsrückisch dialect|Hunsrückisch]] or [[East Pomeranian dialect|East Pomeranian]]) is on the decrease, with 3 million speaking German as a first language today. 

The main variety of German in Brazil is [[Riograndenser Hunsrückisch]] which is found in the southern states. This version of German there has changed over 180 years of contact with Portuguese as well as the [[Talian dialect|languages of other immigrant communities]]. Such contact has led to a new dialect of German concentrated in the German colonies in the southern province of [[Rio Grande do Sul]]. Although Riograndenser Hunsrückisch has long been the most widely spoken German dialect in southern Brazil, like all other minority languages in the region, it is experiencing very strong decline – especially in the last three or four decades. 

The vast majority of German-descended Brazilians speak Portuguese as their mother tongue today. German is known only as a second or third language, if at all, to the point of initiatives to preserve the language being started recently in areas with strong German-descended presence, with government-sponsored Gemeindeschulen. This is especially true for younger German-Brazilians. Another place where the German language continues alive is in some of the more of 4,000 Brazilian Lutheran churches, in which some of the services continue to be in German.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1174391,00.html|title=O alemão lusitano do Sul do Brasil – Cultura – DW – 20.04.2004|website=DW.COM|access-date=4 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513192441/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1174391,00.html|archive-date=13 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/language/hrx|title=Hunsrückish|publisher=Ethnologue|access-date=20 July 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707172737/http://www.ethnologue.com/language/hrx|archive-date=7 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/country/BR|title=Standard German|publisher=Ethnologue|access-date=20 July 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708114057/http://www.ethnologue.com/country/BR|archive-date=8 July 2015}}</ref>

The German language is co-official in the municipality of [[Pomerode]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120530095532/http://www.leismunicipais.com.br/twitter/222/legislacao/lei-2251-2010-pomerode-sc.html# Lei Nº 2251, De 1º de setembro de 2010]</ref> besides being cultural patrimony of the State of [[Espírito Santo]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121120131500/http://www.ipol.org.br/ler.php?cod=690 Plenário aprova em segundo turno a PEC do patrimônio]</ref> In Rio Grande do Sul, the [[Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German]] is an integral part of the State's historical and cultural heritage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.al.rs.gov.br/legis/M010/M0100099.ASP?Hid_Tipo=TEXTO&Hid_TodasNormas=58094&hTexto=&Hid_IDNorma=58094|title=Texto da Norma|date=March 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330024221/http://www.al.rs.gov.br/legis/M010/M0100099.ASP?Hid_Tipo=TEXTO&Hid_TodasNormas=58094&hTexto=&Hid_IDNorma=58094|archive-date=2019-03-30}}</ref>

==== Chile ====
{{Main|German Chilean}}

Chile (with a population of 19 million) has an estimated 40,000 German-speakers.<ref name="Handwörterbuch">[http://www.bpb.de/wissen/08937231579775312662617270950640,1,0,Auslandsdeutsche.html#art1 Handwörterbuch des politischen Systems der Bundesrepublik] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310052559/http://www.bpb.de/wissen/08937231579775312662617270950640,1,0,Auslandsdeutsche.html#art1 |date=March 10, 2011 }} {{in lang|de}}.</ref>
About 30,000 ethnic Germans arrived in Chile.<ref name="tau" /> During the first flux of German immigration (between 1846 and 1875) German colonies were primarily set up in the "Frontera" region. The second wave of immigration occurred between 1882 and 1914 and consisted mainly of industrial and agricultural workers, mainly from eastern Germany; the third wave (after 1918) settled mainly in the cities. As in Argentina and Brazil, these populations are today overwhelmingly Spanish speaking, and German as a home language is in heavy decline (The German language is far from disappearing in Chile because there are more than 100 German-language schools throughout the country) German is taught from preschool to middle school; where if German-Chileans can still speak German, most of them speak German only as a second or third language.{{Citation needed|reason=a statistical source is required and it is not clear if the term "second language" is used loosely or in its technical sense, as in the lead section, where it is opposed to "first language" and "foreign language")|date=November 2019}}

==== Colombia ====
{{Main|German Colombian|Mennonites in Colombia}}

Colombia has a population of about 51 million people. Of them, only 5,000 people of German descent speak the language. Many of these people settled in Antioquia and el Eje Cafetero. Most of the immigration occurred during World War I until the end of the Cold War. Many of these ethnic Germans now speak primarily Spanish at home.

Germans came to South America in World War I and II, settling first in Colombia because of its wealth in natural resources as well as weather conditions conducive to agriculture. German immigrants built the Bavaria, Pilsen, and Club Soda Klausen factories in Cali, Barranquilla, Pereira, Medellin, and other cities. Nowadays, Germans born in Colombia celebrate Oktoberfest in Cali, along with other traditions. There are currently German schools in various major cities around the country.

==== Costa Rica ====
Costa Rica has a population of 4.9 million, and a German-speaking population of 8,000 people. Many of these people are immigrants or native German speakers from Germany or Switzerland and descendants of 18th, 19th and 20th-century mass immigration. But also in the northern area of the country, there are 2,200 German Mennonites in communities in Sarapiquí and San Carlos that spoke Plautdietsch and other Low German dialects.

This German-Costa Rican community is one of the most important and biggest collectivities of German speakers in Central America and the Caribbean, and has a lot of cultural and social institutions, churches, farms, business companies and schools.

==== Mexico ====
{{Main|German Mexicans|Mennonites in Mexico}}

Mexico (with a population of over 120 million) has an estimated 200,000 speakers of standard German either as a first or second language, not counting foreign learned German speakers or the Low-German dialects. Documented immigration of Germans to Mexico began in 1856, though historical research suggest as many as 1.2 million German speaking immigrants arrived in Mexico during the colonial period likely as agricultural laborers. 

Due to pro-nationalistic propagation by the federal government which encouraged mixed-race identification, many Mexicans do not know their ancestral origins and demographic numbers of German Mexicans are sourced on recent and limited data. Regardless, Mexico stands as the 3rd country with the largest German community in Latin America, behind [[Brazil]] and [[Argentina]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OoZ0O-rgUU|title=Los que llegaron - Alemanes (11/04/2012)|last=Canal Once|date=12 April 2012|via=YouTube}}</ref> Included in the [[Germans|ethnic German]] immigration to Mexico is the immigration from [[Austria]], [[Switzerland]], and the French region of [[Alsace]] which was part of France since the end of WWI, as well as that from [[Bavaria]] and [[High German languages|High German]] regions of Germany. {{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}. 

As of 2012, about 20,000 Germans nationals resided in Mexico. The number has risen to almost 40,000 in 2020.<ref name="stats.oecd.org">{{cite web|url=http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=MIG|title=International Migration Database|last=OECD|website=stats.oecd.org}}</ref> Despite groggy heritage claims to the language, German is slightly ahead of French as the second most studied foreign language in Mexico, behind only English. Mexico is home to over 3,000 German language schools, second only to Brazil. The Colegio Humboldt campuses in Mexico are the biggest German language K-12 schools in the Americas, with each of the 3 branches graduating over 2,000 students per year.

=== Northern America ===
==== Canada ====
In [[Canada]], there are 622,650 speakers of German according to the most recent census in 2006,<ref name="Statcan">{{cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/topics/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?ALEVEL=3&APATH=3&CATNO=&DETAIL=0&DIM=&DS=99&FL=0&FREE=0&GAL=0&GC=99&GK=NA&GRP=1&IPS=&METH=0&ORDER=1&PID=89189&PTYPE=88971&RL=0&S=1&ShowAll=No&StartRow=1&SUB=705&Temporal=2006&Theme=70&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&GID=837928 |title=Statistics Canada 2006 |publisher=2.statcan.ca |date=6 January 2010 |access-date=15 March 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090818230831/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/topics/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?ALEVEL=3&APATH=3&CATNO=&DETAIL=0&DIM=&DS=99&FL=0&FREE=0&GAL=0&GC=99&GK=NA&GRP=1&IPS=&METH=0&ORDER=1&PID=89189&PTYPE=88971&RL=0&S=1&ShowAll=No&StartRow=1&SUB=705&Temporal=2006&Theme=70&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&GID=837928 |archive-date=18 August 2009 }}</ref> with people of German ancestry ([[German Canadians]]) found throughout the country. German-speaking communities are particularly found in [[British Columbia]] (118,035) and [[Ontario]] (230,330).<ref name="Statcan" /> There is a large and vibrant community in the city of [[Kitchener, Ontario]], which was at one point named Berlin. German immigrants were instrumental in the country's three largest urban areas: [[Montreal]], [[Toronto]], and [[Vancouver]]. Post-[[Second World War]] immigrants managed to preserve a fluency in the German language in their respective neighborhoods and sections. In the first half of the 20th century, over a million [[German-Canadian]]s made the language Canada's third most spoken after [[French language|French]] and [[English language|English]].

==== United States ====
{{Main|German language in the United States|Pennsylvania Dutch language|Plautdietsch|Hutterite German}}

In the United States, the states of [[North Dakota]] and [[South Dakota]] are the only states where German is the most common language spoken at home after English.<ref name="US Census">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t20/tab05.pdf |title=Table 5. Detailed List of Languages Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over by State: 2000 |access-date=15 March 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117052130/http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t20/tab05.pdf |archive-date=17 January 2010 }}</ref> German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region of the country, such as [[New Ulm, Minnesota|New Ulm]] and many other towns in [[Minnesota]]; [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]] (North Dakota's state capital), [[Munich, North Dakota|Munich]], [[Karlsruhe, North Dakota|Karlsruhe]], and [[Strasburg, North Dakota|Strasburg]] (named after a town near Odesa in Ukraine)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/order/nd_sd/strasburg.html |title=Germans from Russia Heritage Collection |website=Library.ndsu.edu |access-date=18 July 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818163048/https://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/order/nd_sd/strasburg.html |archive-date=18 August 2016 }}</ref> in North Dakota; [[New Braunfels]], [[Fredericksburg, Texas|Fredericksburg]], Weimar, and [[Muenster, Texas|Muenster]] in Texas; Corn (formerly Korn), Kiefer and Berlin in Oklahoma; and [[Kiel, Wisconsin|Kiel]], [[Schleswig, Wisconsin|Schleswig]], [[Berlin, Wisconsin|Berlin]], and [[Germantown, Wisconsin|Germantown]] in Wisconsin.

Between 1843 and 1910, more than 5 million Germans emigrated overseas,<ref name="books.google.com">Henry Steele Commager (1961). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Czlg39-Z75kC&pg=PA102 Immigration and American history: essays in honor of Theodore C. Blegen]''. University of Minnesota Press. p.102. {{ISBN|0-8166-5735-1}}</ref> mostly to the United States.<ref>49.2 million [[German Americans]] as of 2005 according to the {{cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:535&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |author=United States Census Bureau |title=US demographic census |access-date=2 August 2007 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090403034514/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:535;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:535&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-date=3 April 2009 |df=dmy }}; the 1990 census gives 57.9 million, or 23.3% of the U.S. population.</ref> German remained an important language in churches, schools, newspapers, and even the administration of the [[United States Brewers' Association]]<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HhQZAAAAYAAJ&q=german&pg=PA118|title=Documentary History of the United States Brewers' Association|year=1896}}</ref> through the early 20th century, but was severely repressed during [[World War I]]. Over the course of the 20th century, many of the descendants of 18th century and 19th century immigrants ceased speaking German at home, but small populations of speakers are still found in [[Pennsylvania]] (approximately 115,000 speakers; [[Amish]], [[Hutterites]], [[Schwarzenau Brethren|Dunkards]] and some [[Mennonites]] historically spoke [[Hutterite German]] and a [[West Central German]] variety of German known as [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania German]] or Pennsylvania Dutch), [[Kansas]] (Mennonites and [[Volga German]]s), North Dakota (Hutterite Germans, Mennonites, [[History of Germans in Russia and the Soviet Union|Russian Germans]], Volga Germans, and [[Baltic Germans]]), [[South Dakota]], [[Montana]], [[Texas]] ([[Texas German]]), [[Wisconsin]], [[Indiana]], [[Oregon]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Ohio]] (72,570).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mla.org/cgi-shl/docstudio/docs.pl?map_data_results |title=Data Center Results |access-date=10 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815140430/http://www.mla.org/cgi-shl/docstudio/docs.pl?map_data_results |archive-date=15 August 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref>{{citation needed|date=January 2018|reason=Given citation does not provide any useful information}} A significant group of German [[Pietists]] in [[Iowa]] formed the [[Amana Colonies]] and continue to practice speaking their heritage language. Early twentieth century immigration was often to [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]], [[Chicago]], [[New York City]], [[Milwaukee]], [[Pittsburgh]], and [[Cincinnati]].

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 137-005795, Deutsche Zeitungen in Nordamerika.jpg|thumb|[[German language in the United States#German-language press|German-language newspapers in the U.S.]] in 1922]]

The dialects of German which are or were primarily spoken in colonies or communities founded by German-speaking people resemble the dialects of the regions the founders came from. For example, Hutterite German resembles dialects of [[Carinthia (state)|Carinthia]]. [[Texas German]] is a dialect spoken in the areas of Texas settled by the [[Adelsverein]], such as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. In the [[Amana Colonies]] in the state of Iowa, [[Amana German]] is spoken. [[Plautdietsch]] is a large [[minority language]] spoken in Northern Mexico by the [[Mennonite]] communities, and is spoken by more than 200,000 people in Mexico. [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania German]] is a [[West Central German]] dialect spoken by most of the [[Amish]] population of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, and resembles [[Palatine German language|Palatinate German]] dialects. {{Citation needed|date=June 2017}}

[[Hutterite German]] is an Upper German dialect of the [[Bavarian language|Austro-Bavarian]] variety of the German language, which is spoken by Hutterite communities in Canada and the United States. Hutterite is spoken in the U.S. states of [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Montana]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], and [[Minnesota]]; and in the Canadian provinces of [[Alberta]], [[Saskatchewan]] and [[Manitoba]]. Its speakers belong to some Schmiedleit, Lehrerleit, and Dariusleit Hutterite groups, but there are also speakers among the older generations of Prairieleit (the descendants of those Hutterites who chose not to settle in colonies). Hutterite children who grow up in the colonies learn to speak Hutterite German before learning English, the standard language of the surrounding areas, in school. Many of these children, though, continue with German Grammar School, in addition to public school, throughout a student's elementary education.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}

==Australia==
{{Main|German Australians}}

Australia has an estimated population of around 75,600 German speakers.{{cn|date=December 2022}} Australians of German ancestry constitute the fourth largest ethnic group in Australia, numbering around 1,026,138.{{Cn|date=December 2022}} German immigrants played a significant role in settling the states of [[Queensland]] and [[South Australia]]. [[Barossa German]], a dialect of German, was once common in and around the German-settled [[Barossa Valley]] in [[South Australia]]. However, the German language was actively suppressed by Australian governments during [[World War I]] and [[World War II]], resulting in a sharp decline in the use of German in Australia. [[German Australians]] are today overwhelmingly English speaking, with the German language as a home language in heavy decline.

== Rest of the world ==
Minorities exist in the countries of [[Latin America]] and the former [[Soviet Union]], as well as [[Australia]], [[Belgium]], [[Canada]], [[Czech Republic|Czechia]], [[Denmark]], [[France]], [[Hungary]], [[Israel]], [[Italy]], [[Namibia]], [[Poland]], [[Romania]], [[South Africa]], and the [[United States]]. These German minorities, through their ethno-cultural vitality, exhibit an exceptional level of heterogeneity: variations concerning their [[demography|demographics]], their status within the majority community, the support they receive from institutions helping them to support their identity as a minority.

Among them are small groups, such as those in Namibia, and many very large groups, such as the almost 1 million non-evacuated Germans in Russia and [[Kazakhstan]] or the near 500,000 Germans in [[Brazil]] (see: [[Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German]]), groups that have been greatly "folklorised" and almost completely linguistically assimilated, such as most people of German descent in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and others, such as the true linguistic minorities (like the still German-speaking minorities in [[Argentina]], Brazil, and the United States, in [[Western Siberia]] or Hungary and Romania); other groups, which are classified as religio-cultural groups rather than ethnic minorities, such as the Eastern-Low German-speaking [[Mennonites]] in [[Belize]], [[Mexico]], [[Paraguay]] or in the [[Altai Mountains|Altay region]] of [[Siberia]], and the groups who maintain their status thanks to strong identification with their ethnicity and their religious sentiment, such as the groups in [[Southern Jutland]], [[Denmark]] or [[Upper Silesia]], [[Poland]].

==Statistics==
===Native speakers===
Below is a list of countries and one notable region with German-language-speaking populations.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Country !! Speakers !! Percentage !! Year
|-
| {{flag|Australia}} || 79,353 || 0.4% || 2016<ref name=undata>{{cite web|title=Population by language, sex and urban/rural residence|url=http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a27%3bareaCode%3a0%3bsexCode%3a0&c=2,3,5,7,9,11,13,14,15&s=_vcvv2:asc,_countryEnglishNameOrderBy:asc,refYear:desc&v=1|publisher=UNdata|access-date=13 October 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519181010/http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3A27%3BareaCode%3A0%3BsexCode%3A0&c=2%2C3%2C5%2C7%2C9%2C11%2C13%2C14%2C15&s=_vcvv2%3Aasc%2C_countryEnglishNameOrderBy%3Aasc%2CrefYear%3Adesc&v=1|archive-date=19 May 2016}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Austria}} || 7,115,780|| 88.6% || 2001<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.statistik.at/gz/umgangssprache1.pdf|title=Bevölkerung nach Umgangssprache und Staatsangehörigkeit|date=May 2001|website=Statistik Oesterreich|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050512113957/http://www.statistik.at/gz/umgangssprache1.pdf|archive-date=2005-05-12|access-date=2018-06-06}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Belize}} || 9,364 || 2.7% || 2010<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Belgium}} || 76,920<ref name="eurostatpop" group="note">Population data by Eurostat, using the source year. {{Cite web|url=http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-054722_QID_-3EA25038_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;INDIC_DE,L,Z,0;INDICATORS,C,Z,1;&zSelection=DS-054722INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-054722INDIC_DE,JAN;&rankName1=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDIC-DE_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName4=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=FIXED&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23|title=The number of persons having their usual residence in a country on 1 January of the respective year.|website=ec.europa.eu|access-date=2018-11-08}}</ref> || 0.7% || 2017<ref name=eu386>{{cite web|title=Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans And Their Languages |url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |publisher=European Commission |access-date=31 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106183351/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |archive-date=6 January 2016 }}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Canada}} || 271,870 || 0.7% || 2016<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Bolivia}} || 62,741 || 0.65% || 2012<ref>[https://www.niemandsland.net.bo/es/category/leer/ Alemán, ¿lengua extranjera dominante en Bolivia?]</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Croatia}} || 2,986 || 0.07% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Cyprus}} || 1,294 || 0.1% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Czech Republic}} || 41,967 || 0.4% || 2011<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vdb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/faces/en/index.jsf?page=statistiky|title=Statistics VDB|website=vdb.czso.cz|access-date=2019-04-12}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Denmark}} || 20,000 || 0.4% || 2012<ref>{{cite web | url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/tysk | title=Tysk &#124; lex.dk | date=3 May 2023 }}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Estonia}} || 522 || 0.04% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Finland}} || 7,258 || 0.13% || 2021<ref name="pxnet2.stat.fi">{{Cite web|url=https://pxnet2.stat.fi:443/PXWebPXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_11rl.px/|title=Väestö 31.12. muuttujina Maakunta, Kieli, Ikä, Sukupuoli, Vuosi ja Tiedot|website=Tilastokeskuksen PX-Web tietokannat}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
|-
|{{flag|Brazil}} || 3,340,000<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/BR/ | title=Brazil &#124; Ethnologue Free }}</ref>
|1.62%
|2022
|-
|{{flag|France}} || 1,200,000<ref name="eurostatpop" group="note" /> || 1.77% || 2011<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 2011|title= Wird In Frankreich Deutsch Gesprochen?|url=https://www.ytranslations.com/de/wird-in-frankreich-deutsch-gesprochen/#:~:text=In%20der%20Schule%20und%20auf,%C3%96sterreich%2C%20der%20Schweiz%20und%20Brasilien.|access-date=2023-02-16 |website=YTranslations |language=de}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Germany}} || 69,495,000 || 84.8% || 2021<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund - Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus 2021 - Fachserie 1 Reihe 2.2 - 2021 (Erstergebnisse) |url=https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Publikationen/Downloads-Migration/migrationshintergrund-2010220217005.html |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=Statistisches Bundesamt |language=de}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Hungary}} || 38,248 || 0.4% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
|{{flag|Kazakhstan}}
|30,413
|0.2%
|2009<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.liportal.de/fileadmin/user_upload/oeffentlich/Kasachstan/40_gesellschaft/Kaz2009_Analytical_report.pdf|title=Results of the 2009 National population census of the Republic of Kazakhstan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171127203258/https://www.liportal.de/fileadmin/user_upload/oeffentlich/Kasachstan/40_gesellschaft/Kaz2009_Analytical_report.pdf|archive-date=27 November 2017|url-status=live|access-date=27 November 2017}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Kyrgyzstan}} || 7,063 || 0.1% || 1999<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Latvia}} || 203 || 0.01% || 2000<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Liechtenstein}} || 34,438 || 91.5% || 2015<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2015|title=Volkszählung 2015 Bevölkerungsstruktur Band 1|url=https://www.llv.li/files/as/volkszaehlung2015-band1.pdf|journal=Liechtensteinische Landesverwaltung}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Lithuania}} || 528 || 0.01% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Luxembourg}} || 14,658 || 3.1% || 2011<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://statistiques.public.lu/fr/publications/series/rp2011/2013/17-13-langues/index.html|title=N° 17 La langue principale, celle que l'on maîtrise le mieux|last=résultats|first=RP 2011-Premiers|language=fr|access-date=2018-07-17|archive-date=2019-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190827093819/https://statistiques.public.lu/fr/publications/series/rp2011/2013/17-13-langues/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Montenegro}} || 129 || 0.02% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Namibia}} || 11,154 || 0.5% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|New Zealand}} || 42,302 || 0.9% || 2018<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/2018-census-totals-by-topic-national-highlights|title=2018 Census totals by topic – national highlights {{!}} Stats NZ|website=www.stats.govt.nz|access-date=2019-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923102431/https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/2018-census-totals-by-topic-national-highlights|archive-date=2019-09-23}}</ref>
|-
|{{flag|Paraguay}}
|48,812
|0.7%
|2012<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dgeec.gov.py/Publicaciones/Biblioteca/indicadores/Cuadros_Vivienda%20Departamental.xlsm|title=Household results of the 2012 Census of Paraguay}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Poland}} || 96,461 || 0.2% || 2011<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011|title=2011 Population Census, Ethnic Structure|url=https://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/LUD_ludnosc_stan_str_dem_spo_NSP2011.pdf|page=96|language=pl}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Romania}} || 26,557 || 0.1% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
|{{flag|Russia}} || 44,757 || 0.03% || 2010<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/vol4pdf-m.html|title=Население наиболее многочисленных национальностей по родному языку|website=gks.ru|access-date=2018-10-28}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Serbia}} || 2,190 || 0.03% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Slovakia}} || 5,186 || 0.09% || 2011<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Slovenia}} || 1,628 || 0.08% || 2002<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|South Africa}} || 30,034 || 0.07% || 1996<ref name=undata/>
|-
| {{flag|Italy}} || unknown || ||
|-
|{{flag|Spain}}
|192,691<ref name="eurostatpop" group="note" />
|0.4%
|2016<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176759&menu=resultados&secc=1254736194656&idp=1254735573113|title=INEbase / Society /Education and culture /Survey on the Involvement of the Adult Population in Learning Activities / Results/ Microdata|website=www.ine.es|access-date=2019-03-14}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Sweden}} || 72,000 || 0.73% || 2016<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spraktidningen.se/2016/03/har-ar-20-storsta-spraken-i-sverige/|title=Här är 20 största språken i Sverige|date=March 28, 2016|website=Språktidningen}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|Switzerland}} || 5,161,647 || 62.8% || 2016<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/sprachen-religionen.html|title=Sprachen und Religionen|last=Statistik|first=Bundesamt für|website=www.bfs.admin.ch|language=de|access-date=2018-07-17}}</ref>
|-
| {{flag|United States}} || 964,441 || 0.3% || 2016<ref name=usspokenhome>{{cite web |title= Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over |agency= U.S. Census Bureau, 2012–2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates |url= https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/16_5YR/B16001/0100000US%7c0400000US22%7c0400000US23 |publisher= American FactFinder, factfinder.census.gov |date= 2017 |access-date= 4 November 2018 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20200214005518/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/16_5YR/B16001/0100000US%7C0400000US22%7C0400000US23 |archive-date= 14 February 2020 }}</ref>
|-
|{{flag|Ukraine}}
|4,206
|0.01%
|2001<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://database.ukrcensus.gov.ua/MULT/Database/Census/databasetree_en.asp|title=Банк даних|website=database.ukrcensus.gov.ua|access-date=2019-03-20|archive-date=2019-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709003211/http://database.ukrcensus.gov.ua/Mult/Database/Census/databasetree_en.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
!Total (partial)
!85,468,001
!
!
|}

====Subnational territories====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Territory !! Country !! [[First language|L1]] speakers !! Percentage !! Year !! Reference
|-
| [[Uusimaa]] || {{flag|Finland}} || 3,726 || 0.22% || 2021<ref name="pxnet2.stat.fi"/>
|
|-
| [[South Tyrol]] || {{flag|Italy}} || 275,800 (among population over age 16) || 65.3% || 2014<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Südtiroler Sprachbarometer 2014 |url=http://astat.provinz.bz.it/de/aktuelles-publikationen-info.asp?news_action=300&news_image_id=899470 |format=pdf|language=de|at=page 20 Tab.1.1|quote=Personen mit 16 Jahren und mehr|website=Landesinstitut für Statistik ASTAT – Autonome Provinz Bozen – Südtirol |access-date=2 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206130038/https://astat.provinz.bz.it/de/aktuelles-publikationen-info.asp?news_action=300&news_image_id=899470|archive-date=2022-02-06|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|}

===Native and non-native speakers===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Country !! Speakers !! Percentage !! Year !! Reference
|-
| {{flag|Russia}} || 2,069,949 || 1.4% || 2010 || <ref name=undata/>
|}

===Ethnologue estimates===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Approximate distribution of [[First language|native speakers]] of [[German language|German or a German variety]] outside Europe<br />(according to Ethnologue 2016<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216214526/http://www.ethnologue.com/|title=Ethnologue: Languages of the World|archive-date=February 16, 2012|website=Ethnologue}}</ref> unless referenced otherwise)<br />Numbers of speakers should not be summed up per country, as they most likely overlap considerably.<br />Table includes varieties with disputed statuses as separate language.
!
! [[Standard German]]
! [[Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German|Hunsrik/Hunsrückisch]]
! [[Low German]]&ensp;&&ensp;[[Plautdietsch language|Plautdietsch]]
! [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]]
! [[Hutterite German|Hutterite]]
|-
| [[Argentina]] || 400,000 || {{n/a}} || 4,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Australia]] || 79,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Belize]] || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || 9,360 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Bolivia]] || 160,000 || {{n/a}} || 60,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Brazil]] || 1,500,000 || 3,000,000 || 8,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Canada]] || 430,000 || {{n/a}} || 80,000 || 15,000 || 23,200
|-
| [[Chile]] || 35,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Costa Rica]] || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || 2,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Israel]] || 200,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Kazakhstan]] || 30,400 || {{n/a}} || 100,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Mexico]] || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || 40,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Namibia]] || 22,500 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[New Zealand]] || 36,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Paraguay]] || 166,000 || {{n/a}} || 40,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Russia]] || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[South Africa]] || 12,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[Uruguay]] || 28,000 || {{n/a}} || 2,000 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}}
|-
| [[United States]] || 1,104,354<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/acs/ACS-12.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614060228/http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/acs/ACS-12.pdf|title=U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration – Language Use in the United States: 2007|archive-date=June 14, 2013}}</ref> || {{n/a}} || 12,000 || 118,000 || 10,800
|-
| ''Sum'' || '''''4,597,392''''' || '''''3,000,000''''' || '''''357,360''''' || '''''133,000''''' || '''''34,000'''''
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Languages}}
* [[German diaspora#Distribution|Distribution of German diasporas]]
* [[Germanic languages]]
* [[Germans]]
* [[List of countries and territories where German is an official language]]
* [[Unserdeutsch]]
* [[Dialect continuum]]
* [[Geolinguistics]]
* [[Language geography]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf19/5759818-STANDARD.pdf German language studying in the world in 2010 (with evolution from 2005)]
* [https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf19/1459127-STANDARD1.pdf German language studying in the world in 2005 (with evolution from 2000)]
* [https://www.goethe.de/resources/files/pdf19/StADaF_DE_2012.pdf German language in the world in 2012 (full report)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060528172249/http://www.kuwi.euv-frankfurt-o.de/~sw1www/publikation/lateinam.htm Development of German in South America] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050415020802/http://viadrina.euv-frankfurt-o.de/~sw1www/publikation/lateinam.htm Deutsche Minderheiten/Riograndenser Hunsrückisch] {{in lang|de}}

{{Geographical distribution of languages}}

[[Category:Geographical distribution of the German language| ]]
[[Category:Linguistic minorities]]
[[Category:Second-language acquisition|German]]